[DreamSword]

Episode 4: Idol Devastation!

It's very rare that I like idol characters.

More often than not I find that they're written with nothing more than cliches in order to provide a waifu/husbando for the audience to gawk over.

And ya know, I can atleast give credit to Mari, who begins calling herself Flamenco Girl in this episode, in that atleast so far, she very much is not that. However, I still do not like her, and it's a big reason why I came out not liking this episode.

It's a shame too because this episode actually has a pretty solid setup: Masayoshi's' training under Red Axe is beginning to pay off, as Masa is now harder, better, faster, and stronger than he was in previous episodes. To the point that he feels as though he's now at a level to start tackling bigger criminals.

Goto warns Masayoshi that it's a bad idea, but the aspiring hero is not to be deterred. Fighting a gang of thugs goes south very fast, resulting in the appearance of the aforementioned Flamenco Girl, who proceeds to blackmail Samurai Flamenco into being her sidekick, and Masa very quickly learns that Mari has a much different approach to things than he does...

There were aspects to this episode that really did work: Flamenco's' local popularity making him very easy to track online, the police beginning to arm themselves due to Flamenco Girl's' harsh tactics, and the question about just where a hero should draw the line when battling low tier criminals. And while it's certainly not easy to see Masayoshi being pushed around so easily, I would've been down for it had the episode resolved in a satisfactory manner.

Unfortunately, it doesn't. The climax has to do with Goto stepping in, and calling out not only Flamenco Girl's' behavior, but also warning Masayoshi that if he continues down the path he has been, he very much risks becoming a public menace rather than an annoyance or a hero, as even fellow citizens are starting to take note of the utterly cruel tactics of the new duo. And for his trouble, Goto gets tasered by Flamenco Girl. This, I figured, would've been the final straw that got Masayoshi to stand up for himself and break things off.

...But no, all that happens is that Masa forces Mari to apologize to Goto the next day and it's all swept under the rug. Hated that. And it double sucks too considering that all through the episode it's shown that Masayoshi is in no way comfortable with the way that Mari does things. It all seemed like a steady build up to a breaking point, but unfortunately it just doesn't happen this episode. It's not like Mari has much going for her as a character anyway. All she is is an idol who likes superheroes and belittles Masayoshi for "stealing her spotlight" (paraphrased). It's petty, it's annoying, and it has no real payoff.

Such a shame that I ran into my first episode I didn't like in this show after having such a great time with the past three.